San Francisco Board of Governors and McDonald’s in a Food Fight

The San Francisco Board of Governors recently voted to prohibit McDonald's from selling Happy Meals with a toy unless the contents of the Happy Meal meet certain criteria: it contains less than 600…

TSA Brings Problems on Itself

As the Thanksgiving travel begins to increase, so too do the TSA screening stories! If you have been watching TV in the last week, you are probably sick of the "should they – shouldn’t they" conduct…

Things that Drive Me Crazy: Behavioral Economists

What started with Dan Pink’s “Drive” has now compelled me to discuss Things That Drive me Crazy. In this first installment, I challenge “Behavioral Economists” and their lack of expertise in…

Don’t Forget the Boss…Or should you?

It’s that time of year again, where someone out there, has declared October 16th as National Boss's Day.  Now I’m not saying Bosses shouldn’t be recognized for their efforts (assuming they…

Breaking News: Texting While Driving is Dangerous. Duh!

Anyone who understands anything about behavior knows that the latest suggestion by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for dealing with the problem of texting while driving will not work. He…

OOPS #10: The Budget Process

Managers learn the budget game quickly or they don't survive.  Ask for more than you need in the hope that you will get just what you need.  Learn why this wastes time and money and what to…

Do Behavioral Economists Really Understand the Behavior Part?

Someone just sent me a YouTube video of Steven Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, speaking to 1200 business leaders in London in 2007.  The YouTube video is titled, “Why Incentives Don’t Work."…

Two Weeks is Here: ADI Launches New Web Site

Guess what? After many months of hard work by many people, we have given birth to a brand new website. The website was done in cooperation with What’s Up Interactive. They were great to work with and…

A Checklist Never Saved a Life

When I read The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande three things occurred to me.  The first was a joke someone sent me in e-mail last week. “ A man is recovering…

TARP: A Classic Study in Poor Contingency Management by the Government

Last week Neil Borofsky, Special Inspector General of the Troubled Relief Asset Program, said   that a number of the bail-out’s key goals “have simply not been met.” The question I have is…

The “Underwear Bomber” Incident – My Two Cents

Almost everyone has written or talked ad nauseum about Abdul, etc. so I might as well weigh in.  I am reminded of one of our customers in the carpet hauling business where they would put carpet…

Hope Springs Eternal

I have quoted the poet, Alexander Pope, a lot lately, but he wrote so many good things.  He wrote, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast; …” As I think back about all the problems in our…

Great Example of Natural Reinforcement In Action

The Fun Theory is a clever marketing campaign from Volkswagen that has caught the attention of behavior analysts because it shows how to change behavior (in this example increase exercise) by…

Missed Tackles + Missed Blocks = Tebow Tears: The Danger of Being #1

I confess to being a Gator fan. Darnell Lattal, President and CEO of ADI, is an Alabama graduate and fan. I don’t know what to call her, a Tide? I sure won’t call her an elephant. Alabama uniforms…

Fun With Positive Reinforcement

ADI - Aubrey Daniels International, Fun with positive reinforcement. Contact an ADI consultant today.

Young Entrepreneurs Get It

I spoke last week to a group of 500 managers at Fortune Small Business Growth Summit, a yearly conference in Dallas organized by Verne Harnish. The group was composed of small business owners and…

Praising the Boss on Boss’s Day? Not So Fast.

Patricia Bays Haroski who worked for her father in a State Farm Insurance Agency in Deerfield, Ill., registered October 16 as Boss's Day with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 1958. She chose October…

Ask Aubrey: Dead Man Question

Question: In your recent article for Business Week, you state "A million hours without an accident, a reduction in errors, or perfect attendance can all be accomplished by a corpse. This doesn't…